This invention relates to interactive program guide systems, and more particularly, to program guide systems that provide users with channels from a plurality of media such as television, audio, video-on-demand, data, or games, and in which user's access to the programming or program listings may be constrained to a preferred single medium or subset of the available media.
Cable, satellite and broadcast systems provide users with a large number of television channels. Moreover, these systems are able provide channels in other media, such as digital audio (e.g., DMX) channels, video-on-demand channels, game channels, and data channels. Users have traditionally consulted printed program schedules to determine the programs being broadcast at a particular time. More recently, interactive electronic program guides have been developed that allow program information to be displayed on a user's television, for example.
Interactive program guides are typically implemented on set-top boxes. Such program guides allow users to view program listings in different display formats. For example, a user may instruct the program guide to display a grid or table of program listings organized in a channel-ordered or a time-ordered list. Users may also search and sort program listings by genre (e.g., movies, sports, etc.) or by title (i.e., alphabetically). A user may obtain additional information for a program by placing a highlight region on a desired program listing and pressing an “info” button. The user may purchase a pay program from the program guide by placing the highlight region on a program listing and pressing an “OK” button. Some systems allow the user to select a program for recording by placing the highlight region on a program listing and pressing a “record” button.
One approach to dealing with the channel navigation problems created by the increasing large number of television channels is described in Michael D. Ellis et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/034,934, entitled PROGRAM GUIDE SYSTEM WITH PREFERENCE PROFILES, filed on Mar. 4, 1998, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Because there are so many communication channels available, particularly with cable and satellite systems, program guides have been developed that allow users to select favorite channels. During tuning, the program guide may allow the user to tune to favorite channels only, while skipping other channels. Alternatively, a display screen containing program listings may be organized in a way that reflects which channels are favorites. For example, a table of program listings may contain only favorite channels and other channels may be suppressed from view. According to another approach, program listings for available channels are displayed. However, when the user scans through the table of program listings, the cursor control, which highlights a program and allows the user to make a selection, will advance among the favorite channels and skip over the other channels.
The increasing number of new channels has not been limited to television channels. Cable and satellite systems in particular are being used to carry channels relating to various types of media. These newer types of media, such as digital audio, video-on-demand, game and data channels, are typically treated identically to television channels. Thus, no distinction is made by typical prior art program guide when the user selects an audio channel as a favorite as opposed to a television channel, for example. A program guide feature, such as a “flip” feature that allows the user to tune to favorite channels, may arbitrarily access both audio and television channels in a random sequence when the user may only be interested in selecting a television channel at that time, and have no interest in the audio channels. In addition, the random sequence of audio and video programming may be confusing to the user. Similarly, if the user consults the program guide to display a list of favorite television programming, the program guide may display both television programming as well as audio programming. The user is thus required to view program listings which are of no immediate interest and which may make the program selection process more tedious.
Thus, what is needed is a sophisticated way in which the program guide may organize and access favorite channels relating to a plurality of different media, in order to provide programming responsive to the user's interests.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a program guide system with increased capability to discriminate among favorite channels relating to a plurality of different media.